How many minutes are there in a current one-hour prime-time episode (excluding ads of course)? Do the commerical breaks come at the same time and last for the same length for each show? It certainly seems like it.
Half-hour show usually run about 22 minutes, while hour long ones run about 44-45 minutes.
Before the BBC lost the Simpsons contract, they’d sometimes show two episodes back-to-back with almost no break between programmes, and with no adverts, and it took a 40-minute slot. Other timings, that I’ve noticed, fit in with Mr Blue Sky’s figures.
Syndicated half-hour shows generally have an extra minute or two cut out for extra advertising time. But the first-run shows are always just about 22 minutes.
It depends on the network. The Golf Channel, for instance, airs only 12 minutes of commercials an hour (not counting promos.) Other networks air anywhere from 18-24 minutes an hour.